Bending an Ear: When to Listen to Writing Advice

Beta readers, workshopping, editors, agents, publishers – so much advice for your work, and so much of it contradictory! One says your work is too slow; another says you need more description. One says you need to pare down your prose, another says your description is too sparse. Emulate Hemingway. Emulate George R.R. Martin. Emulate Agatha Christie. Emulate Tolkien.How do you please all your readers? Do you just ignore everyone’s advice? Do you try to take everyone’s advice? How do you...